13 Vernacular photographs of Mozambique c. 1900

The city of Beira was developed by the Portuguese Mozambique Company, which was founded in 1891 as a royal company in this Portuguese colony. In Beira the Company ran the post office & public administration, and founded a bank, but took advantage of local conscripted labor. Beira also played an important role as a key port and railroad terminus for the British land locked territories of Zambesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Beira Railway was formed in 1892; by 1890 Cecil Rhodes had already pushed into the region around Salisbury (Harare) and the settlers there were demanding dependable transport.

These photographs date from the colonial period in which the Mozambique Company administered Beira. Photographs taken by C. E. Hogg. Thirteen b&w photographs, 4 3/4 x 3 3/4" with titles handwritten on the verso. The titles are as follows: 'Beira' (a view of the city taken from the Indian Ocean); 'a street in the native village', 'men gathering coconuts', 'mother and child', 'Mozambique natives, the elder age 12 + 2 years married, the younger a rescued slave child'; 'a rescued slave girl'; 'Mozambique' (no further title; photo is of sailboats pulled up on a beach); 'Mozambique' (no title; photo is city harbor, taken from the water looking toward the city); 'hotel proprietor, Beira'; 'Gardens, Mozambique'; 'Mozambique boys'; 'Market, Mozambique'; and 'Mozambique hospital'. A few marks at the corners of some photographs, where they were removed from an album; one photo with a diagonal tear ('Gardens'), o/w quite bright.